75 attend rally for gun rights

Sunday

Feb 24, 2013 at 6:00 AMFeb 25, 2013 at 2:59 PM

By Craig S. Semon TELEGRAM & GAZETTE TAFF

“Ban Assault Politics,” “The Right to Bear Arms Is A Guaranteed Freedom” and “Congress: You Represent Not Rule Us” were some of the slogans front and center at the “Worcester Day of Resistance” rally that took place Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Square.

The event, sponsored locally by the Knox Trail Tea Party and Worcester Tea Party, was part of an estimated 120 similar rallies held across the country under the “Day of Resistance” moniker.

According to dayofresistance.com, the event is in response to President Obama issuing 23 executive actions “against” the Second Amendment on Jan. 16.

The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is the part of the U.S. Bill of Rights and protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on Dec. 15, 1791. The U.S. Supreme Court first ruled in 2008 that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess and carry firearms.

An estimated 75 people rallied in Worcester.

Kay Zauner of Holden doesn't own a gun, but felt it was important to rally for gun owners' rights. She also expressed opposition to “Agenda 21,” a nonbinding, voluntarily implemented action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development, or what Ms. Zauner called “the United Nations' takeover of the United States.”

“I am 72. And this has to be done,” Ms. Zauner said. “The United Nations is trying to take over America. And once these guns are gone, we're gone. They want to take them so they can take America. They're just waiting, chomping at the bit to take over America.”

Deb Byron of Wrentham said she fears the U.S. becoming a “socialist” country and ruled by “a dictator as opposed to a president.” That is, if gun owners' rights are taken away, she said.

“We have a Congress in Washington, D.C., that is not representing the people. They are representing themselves,” Ms. Byron said. “We're losing the Constitution as it was written by our Founding Fathers. The Constitution is not being honored. It's not being respected.”

With so many enemies in the world — and some possibly hiding in our backyard — Richard Willey from Chester said he believes in his Second Amendment rights now more than ever.

Holding up a sign that read “We Will Not Comply,” Tim Roesch of Hudson said too many Americans don't understand how their rights are being taken away from them by the federal government.

“This is not about gun control. This is about control,” Mr. Roesch said. “It has nothing to do with the kids at Newtown. Some of these people couldn't care less if there had been 20 kids shot, 40 kids, 100 kids. To them, it's just an excuse to take away guns.”

In addition to holding a sign that read “Individuals are the cornerstones of liberty! Guns are the teeth of freedom! The Second Amendment enables the American people to resist the tyranny of corrupt government. Arm yourself and be free,” Joe Kotoch still had plenty to say, including that President Barack Obama should be impeached for going against the Constitution.

“The Second Amendment assumes you have that right and tells the federal government what you shall not do,” Mr. Kotoch said. “One of the reasons why you have the right to keep and bear arms is to defend yourself from a tyrannical government. The Second Amendment is a finger in the face of federal government, telling them back off.”

T.J. Brennan of Sturbridge said our Second Amendment right is being trounced upon and, if we lose our Second Amendment right, other amendments could follow suit.

“President Obama is exploiting a tragedy to achieve his end goal, which is disarm the American citizens,” Mr. Brennan said. “I have firearms, absolutely. They never hurt anybody, put a lot of meat on a lot of people's tables. Would I ever hurt anybody with them? Only in self-defense, if there was no other way to get out. That's it.”

Wearing a three-cornered colonial hat, Larry Bussell of West Brookfield had a message for the public — “Read your Second Amendment and learn what it's all about.”

“The Second Amendment is not about hunting. It's about protecting yourself. George Washington himself said the reason for the Second Amendment is to protect yourself from the tyrannical government, which I believe is shaping up right now,” Mr. Bussell said. “If we lose the Second Amendment, we lose the Constitution. It's that simple.”

Martin Green of Framingham said we are living in a society where the importance of the Second Amendment has been lost, and people don't understand what the Founders had in mind.

“I'm always suspicious when somebody uses the death of children as the basis to push an agenda that they have actually been pushing for 30 years. And that, by the way, applies to more than just the president,” Mr. Green said. “These people have been on an anti-gun campaign for decades and it's really offensive to me that they would use this horrific incident in Newtown as a basis to attack legal gun owners.”

Mr. Green said the whole idea of hunting and sportsmen is a construct that was developed much later by people trying to weaken the Second Amendment from its fundamental purpose, which he said is to protect free people from tyrannical rule.

“You hear people make the statement that you don't need an AR-15 to shoot a deer,” Mr. Green said. “But the Second Amendment was not adopted for hunting. Everyone in that time hunted. It was the only way that you would eat. There was no Hannaford.”

Rob Bedard Jr. of Pomfret, who is a columnist for Patriot Update, said the Greatest Generation understood the importance behind the right to bear arms, but that today we have lost sight of it.

“Admiral Yamamoto said you could never launch a full-scale attack on America because there would be a rifle behind every blade of grass,” Mr. Bedard said. “In the history of countries that are disarmed by their leaders, the result is bloody and messy and terrible. And people can't think that it could never happen here, but it sure can.”

Jeffrey Schaffer of Westboro said the reason he was holding an American flag-adorned sign that read “Don't Have One But Have the Right” was because he believes that “the right to bear arms” is a valuable constitutional right worth fighting for, and one that we could lose through emotions.

“I like my freedoms. This is a wonderful country. It has a lot of warts but we don't have to curtail individual rights to solve the issues that we're facing,” Mr. Schaffer said. “Instead of outlawing guns, why don't we start looking at some of the deranged people that are really causing some of the problems?”

Contact Craig S. Semon at csemon@telegram.com

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